


Skipping Stones

by notasponsor



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Brief Jealousy, Childhood to College, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, cute childhood rhink like omg so cute, soft rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8355193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notasponsor/pseuds/notasponsor
Summary: Link opens the book to the first page, covered in unsteady handwriting and crayon drawings. He reads aloud, “Dedicated to Link, my best friend in the whole world.” There are drawings of the two boys littered throughout the page, surrounding the words in the center.“Mom said book writers usually dedicate their books to someone they love.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to the betas of this fic, pringlesaremydivision and rhinkluv on Tumblr, they are seriously awesome! This fic has some moments in it that I really, really love. Enjoy!

They’re only seven when Rhett feels what he thinks is love for the first time. He and Link are sitting in the damp grass by the river, bundled up in their winter coats. It’s October.

Rhett clambers up, a grin growing on his face. “Wanna see something cool?” he asks, holding out a hand. Link instantly grabs his hand and stands up, nodding.

“Yeah!” 

“Cole taught me how to do this last week.” He walks over to the edge of the river and picks up a pebble, then turns back to Link. “Watch this,” he says, and throws the rock with a flick of the wrist. 

Link watches in wonder as it bounces off the surface of the water once, then again, and a third time before it sinks into the river. “How’d you do that!” He looks between Rhett and the river wildly, an astonished look on his face.

“Magic.” Rhett smiles. “C’mon, I’ll show you how.” He reaches for another pebble on the ground. “You have to find one that’s kinda flat.” He hands it to Link and steps behind him, holding the hand with the pebble clasped in it.

Then, he pulls Link’s hand back and forward, throwing it with him. It hits the water and skips once, then sinks.

“Wow!” Rhett lets go of Link and turns to face him. “The first time I did it, mine sunk!”

Link smiles excitedly, bouncing on his heels. “That was so cool!”

Rhett nods, “You play it like a contest, Cole can make it go seven times!” He points at himself. “But I’m gonna beat him one day.”

The shorter boy crouches down and grabs another pebble, “I know you will, Rhett,” he says, examining the pebble, turning it over in his hand.

“I got to five last time.” Rhett picks one up and slings it to the river. It skips, skips, skips, and skips and sinks. A joyous laugh escapes him.

Link steps forward, “Watch me, Rhett!” And throws the rock with a concentrated face. It skips and skips and skips, and then sinks. 

Rhett cheers and wraps his arm around Link’s shoulders, “Wow, Link! You got three already!”

“Yeah!” Link looks up at Rhett, smiling widely. His teeth are exposed and a faint dusting of freckles cover his cheeks. His nose is red from the cold, but his eyes are shining with joy. He exhales, a plume of white air leaving his mouth, “It’s like you said, magic!”

Rhett smiles back at Link, a warmth spreading in his chest, something he can’t quite comprehend yet. “Yeah,” he tightens his hold on Link’s shoulders, “Magic.”

* * *

When Link turns eight, Rhett brings him a present for his birthday. The party only consists of Rhett and Link’s families, gathered around the dining table.

“Here’s your present, Link,” Rhett says and looks over to his mom, who hands him the wrapped parcel. He grabs it and puts it on the table, in front of Link. Link looks excitedly at Rhett then picks up the present.

He starts to pick at the tape, making the adults laugh quietly. After a few moments of Link concentrating on the present and Rhett watching him, leaning forward and kicking his legs under the table, he manages to get the wrapping off.

Link turns over the present, looking at it curiously. “What’s this?” It’s a crude thing, two pieces of green cardboard with a small stack of printer paper between them. Three loops of string hold it together.

Rhett smiles, “It’s a book! You told me you like to read so I was gonna get you some, but I don’t know what books you like so I wrote you one!”

Link’s jaw drops and he stares at Rhett, “You wrote me a book?” He asks, a smile growing on his face. He looks at the cover, it has a drawing of Rhett and Link smiling, titled ‘The Awesome Life of Link Neal and Rhett McLaughlin’.

“Yeah! Well, I didn’t know enough words to write it so I had to ask mom for help, but it’s an all original Rhett McLaughlin book!” He boasts, puffing his chest.

“This is awesome!” Link cries and puts the book down, reaching over to hug Rhett.

Rhett hugs him back quickly then pushes him back, gesturing excitedly to the book. “You have to read it now, bo!”

Link opens the book to the first page, covered in unsteady handwriting and crayon drawings. He reads aloud, “Dedicated to Link, my best friend in the whole world.” There are drawings of the two boys littered throughout the page, surrounding the words in the center.

“Mom said book writers usually dedicate their books to someone they love.”

Link nods, turning the page, “Once upon a time, there was a boy named Charles, but he didn’t like that name, so he chose Link.”

Rhett points at the crayon drawing on the page, “That’s you.” He whispers.

Link laughs and pushes Rhett’s hand away, “He had a friend named Rhett, who liked his name so he kept it.”

“It’s true.”

“Shh! Link and Rhett were best friends and always spent time together, they played and ate and swam in the river. One day, they were at the river and saw a great big creature. It was like a rooster, but had wings and breathed fire.” Link looks at Rhett, smiling widely. “Wow, Rhett! This is so cool! We have a book about us!”

Link turns the page to read more, but his mom steps forward, halting his progress. “Okay, honey, we have to move onto cake now. You and Rhett can read the book later.”

“Awww, Mom, we didn’t even get to the second page!” Link says, closing the book begrudgingly. Rhett grumbles too, but instantly grows excited when he sees the cake being brought into the room by his mom. He joins in with the adults, singing Happy Birthday to Link boisterously. Link’s mom pulls out the camera and takes pictures of the two, laughing.

Later that night, Rhett and Link sit on Link’s bed together, reading from the book and pausing every few minutes to reenact a scene from it, from jumping off of the bed as if they’re jumping off of the cliff together to Rhett pouncing on Link when his character in the book does.

At nine o’clock, Link’s mom knocks on the door and tells the two to wash up and go to bed. The two recite lines from the book as they do so, Rhett accidentally spitting toothpaste on the mirror and apologizing to a shrieking Link. They race each other to Link’s room and settle down, Link in his bed and Rhett on a spare mattress on the floor, giggling to each other as they fall asleep.

* * *

The ambient sound of laughter and festivities dances around Rhett and Link. It’s a hot summer night, and they graduated the fourth grade yesterday. Their mothers have brought them to the state fair as a graduation present, and they laugh together as the boys run off on their own, hands joined, in search of a treat.

“Two cotton candies, please,” Rhett says, holding up two fingers.

The man nods and says, “Two dollars.”

Rhett begins to reach into his pocket until Link tugs at his hand, “Rhett, I forgot my money with Mom.” He frowns.

The taller boy smiles, “That’s alright, we can share then.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a dollar, “One cotton candy, please.”

The man takes the dollar and then picks up a paper cone from the side of the cart. Rhett and Link watch with wide eyes as he runs it through the donut shaped machine, fluff accumulating out of nowhere.

“Here ya go, boys.”

Link takes the cone from the man and Rhett says, “Thanks!” And they turn and walk toward nowhere in particular.

As they walk, Rhett reaches over with his left hand and grabs a chunk of cotton candy, popping it in his mouth and chewing it, then swallowing. The candy stains his fingers pink.

Link raises the candy to his mouth and bites a piece off, letting it melt in his mouth. Their hands remain clasped as they walk.

Then, Link spots a corn maze. “That’s weird,” he comments, motioning toward it with the cone, “they usually only bring that out in the fall.”

Rhett grins. “Wanna go in?”

“I don’t know, it’s pretty dark.”

“That’s what makes it fun.”

A moment passes, the two staring at each other. Finally Link smiles. “Okay.”

Rhett tugs the two of them to the entrance of the corn maze. Beyond the corn stalks in their immediate vision is complete darkness, save the path which can be seen by the moonlight and lights from the fair. They enter and Link extends the arm holding the cotton candy, making sure his elbow is touching the ‘wall’ at all times.

The two walk in near silence through the maze, the only sound being footsteps and hushed talking from other walkers in the maze.

“You’re right, Link.” Rhett says quietly, holding Link’s hand tighter, “It is dark.” An inkling of fear goes through Rhett when he turns his head and sees darkness behind them. 

In his peripherals, he sees Link nod. 

“You okay, Link?” 

“Yeah,” Link breathes out, “it’s just,” he swallows, “just dark.” Rhett can barely see his face, just the curve of a frown etched into his features.

“Yeah.” Rhett agrees. It’s also hot. Humid, too. Their hands stick together in a combination of sweat and cotton candy. The cotton candy in Link’s other hand is long forgotten.

It’s not a very large maze, the budget of the fair having gone to the ferris wheel and the concessions rather than the corn maze. They’re nearing the end when Rhett breaks the silence.

“Hey, Link?”

“Yeah?”

“You ever wonder why we hold hands?” Rhett asks. 

Link scrunches up his face. “No, not really, we always do.”

“I mean,” Rhett sighs, not really sure of how to phrase it, “No one else holds hands like us besides people who are going with each other. But we aren’t going with each other.”

“You two sure don’t act like you aren’t.”

Rhett and Link stop in their tracks at the voice in front of them. They glance at each other wide-eyed, until a flash of bright light blinds them and they cover their eyes with their free hands. The cone of cotton candy falls to the ground, making a soft thump.

The person holding the flashlight laughs. “Look at these two. Caught them in the act, didn’t we?”

Other voices snicker, and Rhett shivers, despite it being over eighty degrees, out of pure fright. He attempts to accentuate his height, standing taller.

“Aww, they’re still holding hands, how cute,” another voice sneers from the darkness. Rhett suspects he’s in middle school, from the sound of his voice. Rhett can feel Link’s hand shaking in his, and he knows his own palms are clammy with fear. Neither boy speaks.

“We saw you two go into the maze, holding hands. You’d think you oughta stop after we showed up, but I guess not.” The person speaking suddenly steps forward and shoves Link, who lets out a cry and hits the ground roughly, dirt flying everywhere. 

“Link!” Rhett moves to help Link up, but an arm grabs his and pulls him back roughly.

“You think you two can just walk around like that? Holding hands like a couple of fags?” Rhett feels spit spray on him as the person speaks to him, holding him in place with a firm grip on his upper arm. Terror fills him, but so does anger. Anger he had never felt before in his short life. It consumes him and before he can control it, his hand curls into a fist and he swings it toward the voice, making sharp impact on the person’s neck.

“Fuck!” The voice shouts, and his arm is released. The light moves off of Link as the flashlight falls to the ground. The entire area is bathed in darkness. Rhett hears a grunt and then feels a kick to his leg, making him stumble and fall to the ground.

The flashlight turns back on and flashes on Rhett. He feels a kick at his back and another at his stomach. He curls into a ball and closes his eyes.

Then, he hears, “Let’s go,” and the sound of the flashlight being dropped, retreating footsteps, then finally, silence.

Rhett remains curled on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Rhett?” A quiet voice asks, finally breaking the silence. Link.

Rhett sits up, wincing, and grabs the flashlight, shining it at Link, who is staring forward, trembling.

He crawls to Link and puts his hand on his shoulder. “You alright?”

Link blinks and looks at Rhett, eyes are wide with fright as he whispers, “What happened to you?”

Rhett shakes his head. “Nothing, just hurts a bit, I’m fine.” He smiles. A sick feeling has settled in his stomach, but he ignores it.

Link swallows. “Can you look at my hand?”

Nodding, Rhett grabs Link’s hand and sees red. Link’s palm is scraped roughly from the ground. Blood.

“Link, you’re okay. It’s fine.” Rhett whispers, turning Link’s hand over, but Link sees the red and gasps.

“Rhett.” He whispers, and Rhett puts down the flashlight so a faint glow surrounds them. He pulls Link into his arms and holds him. Link shakes violently, “Rhett,” he whimpers.

Rhett’s lip trembles. “It’s okay, it’s just a little.” But he feels himself digesting what just happened and his throat aches when he swallows, eyes wet with tears.

The feeling of holding a terrified, shaking Link in his arms, and the fact that he was just beat up by a group of older kids whom he didn’t know makes tears run down Rhett’s face, a product of terror and frustration.

Link looks away from his hand and at Rhett, a distressed frown on his face after seeing the tears on Rhett’s face. “Maybe they’re right,” he whispers, “Maybe we shouldn’t hold hands. You said it yourself,” Link sniffles, “We aren’t going together, maybe we shouldn’t do that.”

“Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“Then,” Rhett pauses, wiping his own tears away with the back of his hand, “Why should we care what they think? I don’t care!” But his face contradicts him, more tears trailing down his cheeks. His lower lip trembles again.

Link reaches up and wipes Rhett’s tears away. “I don’t like seeing you sad, bo.”

Rhett swallows, holding onto Link tighter, burying his face into Link’s neck. Link wraps his arms around Rhett, having forgotten about the blood. He turns his head and kisses Rhett’s head once, surprising the both of them. They freeze for a moment. 

Then, Rhett looks up and a hint of a smile appears on his face. Link looks back, a small grin forming. The maze doesn’t seem so dark anymore.

* * *

Rhett forgets sometimes that he’s not the only person Link talks to, so when he sees Link talking to Josh, an 8th grader, he’s rather upset. 

Josh is a grade older than Link and him, and he may be shorter than Rhett, but he’s smarter and funnier and more charming than Rhett. Rhett might be on the basketball team, but Josh is an award winning mathlete who somehow still remains the coolest in his grade and all grades below. So it’s understandable that when Rhett sees him talking to Link, an ugly seed of jealousy grows in his stomach.

Rhett walks closer to them in the hall and hears Josh say, “So, what’dya say, Neal? You gonna join the mathletes team? We could really use you, you’ve got some of the highest grades in your class.”

Link shuffles his feet and shrugs. “I dunno.” He shoves his hands in his pants pockets. “I usually hang out with Rhett after school.”

Rhett stops near them, out of sight behind the vending machine.

Josh smiles, “Yeah, but mathletes practice is only on Tuesdays.”

“Rhett doesn’t have basketball practice on Tuesdays.”

“Look, would you rather waste your time with Rhett or work on your future? You could get scholarships and awards and stuff from mathletes!” 

Rhett lowers his head, frowning. 

Then, Link sighs frustratedly, “I am working on my future, Josh.” His voice takes on an abrasive tone. “I don’t know if I’m gonna get into some fancy college, and I don’t care if I do. As long as Rhett’s there, I’m fine, Josh.”

A small smiles dawns on Rhett’s face. A fizzy feeling courses through him, like that one time on New Year’s when his mom let him drink a sip of champagne. His body feels like the bubbles at the top of the beige liquid confined in the glass. 

“Whatever, Link,” Josh says, a disdainful look on his face. “If you change your mind and start thinking about serious stuff, come talk to me.” He walks away, shouldering his backpack and shaking his head.

Once, he’s gone, Rhett steps out from behind the machine and walks to Link, “Hey, man,” he says, catching Link’s surprised, then relieved, look.

“Hey.” Link grins.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Link instinctively grabs Rhett’s hand. It feels familiar. They walk down the hall to their next class.

“So, you got anything goin’ on tomorrow?” Rhett asks. Tomorrow is Tuesday.

Link smirks faintly, “Nah,” He looks at Rhett, blue eyes vibrant. “Nothing at all.”

Rhett smiles back, feeling like champagne.

* * *

Spring break is abnormally cool, and Rhett and Link only ever separate when Rhett has to go upstate and visit relatives. Most days are spent by the river or at Rhett’s house. They’ve just finished the third quarter of freshman year. It feels liberating, like they’re adults now.

“Do you ever think about girls?” Link asks, looking up at the ceiling fan of Rhett’s room. The two are laying on his floor, watching the fan spin around and around. “Like, think think about them?”

“Um,” Rhett pauses. The inappropriate thoughts have been occurring to Rhett more often now. He tries to think about girls, the ones from the Playboy magazines he found in Cole’s room. It never works, and his imagination turns gentle curves into harsh angles, blonde hair to black. Broad shoulders and small waist, a sharp jawline, blue eyes-

Rhett shrugs. “Yeah.”

“I don’t,” Link says unsteadily, fingers grabbing at the carpet beneath them.

“Okay.”

“I feel like there’s something wrong with me, though. The guys in my math class talk about girls all the time and I just... don’t care.”

“What do you think about, then?” Rhett’s heart is beating fast and he doesn’t know why.

Link watches the ceiling fan. The tips of his ears are red, face blotchy as if he had just come back from an intense soccer practice. “I dunno,” he mutters, “other stuff.”

“I think about other stuff, too.”

Link turns his head and looks at Rhett. “I thought you said you think about girls.”

“I thought that’s what I was supposed to say.”

“You don’t think about girls either.”

Rhett shakes his head.

“You think about,” Link pauses, “Other stuff.”

Rhett nods.

“Cool.” Link says, face redder than before. It feels like something’s changed. Rhett has no idea what.

* * *

“Rhett. I can’t see.” Link grunts, crossing his arms and standing on his tiptoes trying to see the band playing rows and rows in front of them. The sound of people singing along and a deep bass makes it hard for Rhett to hear him. Of course they got the back row.

Rhett got the two of them tickets last month to see a generic cover band they had never heard of. There wasn’t much hype leading up to it, but it would be a good destresser after finals week, they figured. It was a lot of stress, with junior year looming and the talk of college starting to arise.

Hence, the nameless band. In the back row.

“Link, I don’t know what to tell you,” Rhett laughs over the sound of the band. “If it makes you feel any better, they aren’t that good.”

“It doesn’t.” Link frowns, then comes up with an idea. “Let me get on your back.”

“What?”

Link shuffles his feet impatiently. “You said your back was feeling better, and I’m light, let me sit up there!” 

Rhett shakes his head. “No way, buddyroll. Just cause my back’s better doesn’t mean you can make it worse.”

“I won’t! Just let me for a little bit!”

Rhett groans. “Fine,” he says, and crouches, holding his hands behind his back. Link grins and climbs onto his shoulders, legs around Rhett’s neck. Rhett stands up slowly, grasping Link’s thighs tightly. “Now can you see?”

Link laughs, “Oh yeah!” He puts his hands on top of Rhett’s head, smiling. “Definitely!”

Rhett looks up, Link’s chin the only thing he can see from his point of view. Then he looks forward at the band and smiles, listening to the music. Link taps the beat onto the top of Rhett’s head with his fingers.

After a few songs, Rhett’s back starts to hurt. “Hey, Link, you’re gonna have to come on down,” he yells up to Link.

Link climbs down slowly, keeping his arms on Rhett’s shoulder to steady himself. He jumps down and hits the ground, letting out a small ‘Oof!’ before he straightens himself up, “It was a great view!” He exclaims, arms still around Rhett’s shoulders.

Rhett wraps his left arm around Link’s waist loosely. “How were they?”

Link frowns. “Not that great, you were right.” He disentangles his arms from Rhett’s shoulders and slips his hands into Rhett’s back pockets. “Too bad.” 

Rhett nods. “But the view was great?”

Link shrugs, smiling. “Not as great as it would’ve been down here.”

Rhett smiles back, showing the top row of his teeth, “I’m sure.” He says, wrapping his right arm around Link’s waist, now properly embracing him. In the darkness of the back, they’re barely more than a silhouette.

“Ready for the summer?” Link asks.

“Oh yeah,” Rhett feels like he’s seven again, skipping rocks with Link. Looking at Link’s face, the bright eyes gazing into his own, the wide smile, the feeling of his hands in his pockets. It feels an awful lot like magic. 

Link tilts his head, eyes watching the changing expression on Rhett’s face. Then he grins. Link gets on his tiptoes and presses his lips to Rhett’s. Rhett tightens his hold on Link and pushes forward, smiling against Link. It feels electric.

They pull back and smile, before diving back into the kiss, lips moving slowly. The drums from the band provide a beat that matches Rhett’s heart’s, fast and erratic.

* * *

It’s a quiet Sunday morning, Gregg gone for the week to go visit his girlfriend back home, leaving Rhett and Link alone in the top bunk of their bed, tangled together with Link’s green blanket covering their legs. Soft music pours from the radio in the corner of the room.

Link looks up at Rhett, resting his head on Rhett’s shoulder, a grin playing on his face. 

“Hey, bo.”

Rhett looks down. “Hey.” He moves his left hand and grabs Link’s, squeezing gently. 

Link squeezes back. “You wanna get some food later?”

“Where?” Rhett scoots down so his face is next to Link’s, noses touching.

“I dunno.”

Rhett grins. “Why’d you bring it up then?”

Link frowns. “I wanted to make sure we were gonna get food.”

“That’s kind of a given.”

“Shut up.” Link struggles not to smile, eyes bright.

Rhett kisses the frown right off of his lips. Link smiles and places his hand on Rhett’s shoulder. Rhett’s not sure how they got to this point, where kissing is the norm. When dates at parks and cafes and cheesy, romantic candle-lit restaurants have became more frequent. When no one really questioned the casualness at which the two acted with each other, because everyone knew what they were to each other.

When Rhett asks, Link says he thinks it happened when they first kissed at a concert way, way back, loud bass and bright lights. Rhett can’t possibly remember the name of the band who played.

Rhett, however, thinks it was when he saw Link skipping his first stone. All he remembers is the plop, plop, plop and splash of the rock, and the look on Link’s face afterwards, the excitement and happiness that caused a crashing wave of clarity in Rhett’s chest, the feeling like every Christmas morning and birthday he’s ever experienced.

Link turns the kiss from innocent to totally depraved, separating Rhett’s lips with his tongue. He climbs on top of Rhett, licking into his mouth. Rhett groans and grabs Link’s hips, pressing against him. He slides his hands from Link’s hips to under his shirt, holding him close, exploring the familiar skin. 

Link smiles against Rhett’s lips, pulls away an inch. “How about KFC?” His eyes are a bright blue.

“What-yes, sure, okay.” Then Rhett keeps kissing him, because he never wants to stop.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to talk to me at notasponsor on Tumblr! Also please please please leave a kudos and comment what you thought about the fic I really enjoy reading them (seriously, like...I enjoy it way too much)!!


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